Bible Study August 16, 2012

Hey Gang,


We continue this week in our study of Apologetics with our series of lessons entitled The Case for Jesus. Last week we considered the question - Do good people go to heaven? We dove in to see why good isn't good enough and that the only answer was Jesus. This week we look to see what's so different about Jesus. 

At first glance all of these light bulbs look alike, but one is unique. Why, because it gives light. The others have no power source or are imposters. In a similar way, some people want to say all religious leaders are essentially the same and lead to the same God. But in real life, only Jesus has the power and identity to actually give light. 

Which Jesus Do You Follow? 

Click Here to Watch 

 











Answers:

 
Abraham – Father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Moses – Judaism

Confucius – Confucianism

Plato – Platonic Realism

Muhammad – Islam

John Calvin – Calvinism

Joseph Smith – Mormonism

James White – Seventh-day Adventist Church

Charles Russell – Jehovah’s Witnesses

Ron Hubbard – Scientology

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – Transcendental Meditation

Buddha – Buddhism

 

Does it matter to you whether a person running for the President of the United States believes differently than you do about God and Jesus?

 

 

We are going to take a stroll through the Bible this morning and see how Jesus' teachings, miracles and resurrection make Him different and all give evidence that He is God.

I. SEE JESUS’ TEACHINGS – JOHN 6:66-69

66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

After feeding the 5,000, many plotted to declare Jesus an earthly king. Jesus spoke straight to this group and told them that he was the bread of Life and presented the need to follow Him even unto death. As a reaction to His words, many of the larger group of Jesus’ followers turned and walked away and walked with Him no more. Jesus asked the twelve if they also planned to leave Him. Peter told Him that they would stay because only He had the way of life and they were convinced that He was the Son of God.


Why did so many leave Jesus? (After one sermon His followers drop from 5000 to 12)

• Maybe they realized that He wasn’t going to be the conquering Messiah-King they expected.
• He refused to give in to their self-centered requests.
• He emphasized faith, not deeds.
• His teachings were difficult to understand, and some of His words were offensive.

What made Peter so sure of Who Jesus was?

• Peter’s answer is for all of us – there is no other way. Though there are many philosophies and self-styled authorities, Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.
• People look everywhere for eternal life and miss Christ, the only source.

What has kept you from leaving Jesus? How do you know that Jesus is the Holy One of God?

• Even if we don’t understand God’s plan, we need to respond to His direction. In fact, when we don’t understand God’s plan, it is even more important to do exactly what He directs us to do. Often, God asks us to make the choice to do His will before we know the specific details of His plan. That’s because part of God’s plan is to develop in us a trust of His character and His benevolence. But this is where many of us get into a battle of wills with God, wanting Him to reveal his plan to us first and only then will we decide whether or not to do what He tells us to do. But that’s not the way it works. God wants you to decide in advance, trusting Him and believing that His will is the best plan for your life, believing that He will strengthen you to do all that He asks you to do. One reason God doesn’t give you the full picture of His plans for your life is that you may be overwhelmed by what you see. For instance, it may appear impossible for you to complete everything He plans for you during this Decade of Destiny. But that’s the point—there’s no way you can fulfill your mission without God empowering you.
• Do you still think there is someone else to go to find out what direction to take? Perhaps you still believe you know best? Tell God, “I don’t know that I’m willing to step out in faith without first knowing everything that’s going to happen, but I’m willing to be made willing.”

What would you say to someone who said that Jesus was a great man but not the Son of God?

• His teachings testify to His unique claims to be the Son of God.
• With the woman at the well He’ll use water. In John 15 He’ll use a vine – abide in Me. He is saying here that He is the Bread of Life.
• It means to believe in Him, not about Him, not admire Him and not be fascinated with His miracles but to believe in Him. In other words, salvation is not nodding our head intellectually to Jesus. It’s not tipping our hat to Him with a one day appearance at a church service. It is a personal identification. You are in Christ and Christ is in you. So He is using the very language of gestation. You have to ingest Christ by faith and feed upon Him. Christ is in you and you are in Christ. It is not a partnership relationship in Christ. It’s not a life coach you are getting. It’s not a genie in heaven that you rub to get what you want. He is calling for you to make Him your life and He will lay down His life. You are abiding in Him. That is what He is pressing home to them but they will not listen to it. They will not listen to the call that says “By faith, eat and drink of Him”, to ingest Him that He becomes your life and everything in your life.

II. SEE JESUS’ MIRACLES – JOHN 9:17, 24-25, 31-33, 35-38


17Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."


24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"  

31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him." 37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you." 38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.


Jesus healed a man born blind. Because this occurred on a Sabbath, the Pharisees confronted Him and accused Him of breaking the Sabbath law. They questioned the formerly blind man, who stuck to his testimony. He said he didn’t know about this debate, but affirmed his testimony that Jesus had healed him. The Pharisees continued to deny the evidence and sank farther into darkness. The man moved ahead in His faith in Jesus.


Who did the blind man think Jesus was? What did the Pharisees ask the blind man to do? How did the blind man respond to the Pharisees? What convinced the blind man that Jesus was from God?

• Prophet – Healer - Lord

How does this miracle defend what is so different about Jesus?

• Opening the eyes of a man born blind was an amazing miracle that pointed to the uniqueness of Jesus.
• But Jesus had power over much more than diseases and illness. He had control over the laws of nature, too. Once, when Jesus and his disciples were in a boat, a huge storm came out of nowhere. Waves swept over the boat. His disciples cried, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" Jesus, who was actually sleeping during the commotion, got up and told the storm to go away. Immediately, the waters became completely calm. "What kind of man is this?" the disciples asked. "Even the winds and the waves obey him!"
• Obviously, no ordinary man. Only God himself could have such power.

How are those who deny that Jesus is different more blind than the one born blind?

• His miracles show that He was more than man.
• Once we were all blind, but now those of us who believe have been given sight.
• People who open their lives to God’s light move toward greater light. Those who reject the light sink deeper into darkness.
• We were once just as spiritually blind as the man in the story was physically blind. His healing was a miracle. Our spiritual sight and understanding is just as much a miracle.
• Look for miracles God is doing in your life every day

III. SEE JESUS’ RESURRECTION – JOHN 20:27-29


27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples – including Thomas, who had expressed his doubts. To show the reality of His resurrection, Jesus challenged Thomas to touch Him. Jesus’ resurrection is the supreme miracle and sign that Jesus is all He claims to be.

How would you deal with a person who doubts the resurrection?

• His resurrection is the supreme miracle and greatest proof of Jesus’ deity.
• Listen to the testimony of dedicated people.
• Learn that believing is seeing.
• Jesus didn't really come back from the dead. That's just a fairy tale. It is hard to believe. But there's just too much evidence to dismiss the resurrection as a hoax. If Jesus wasn't resurrected, why didn't anyone find his body?
• Some say his body was stolen. But by whom? It couldn't have been his disciples; there's no way a handful of unarmed men could've stolen a body from a tomb guarded by well-armed Roman soldiers. And it couldn't have been stolen by the religious leaders, those who opposed Jesus. If they had stolen the body, once Jesus' followers started claiming he was alive, the leaders would've said, "Nope. Here's the body. So there." But that didn't happen.
• Instead, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people after his resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6), and their reaction is probably the best evidence of all. They hit the streets with the news: "Jesus is alive!" They shouted the message loud and clear, even though they faced rejection, punishment and even death as a result.
• Why were they so bold, even in the face of death? Because they knew that what they said was true: Jesus had come back to life.
• And the life span of Jesus? From before the beginning of time till long after the end of it. He's timeless, infinite, and eternal (John 1:1-2; Revelation 21:6).
• Yes, Jesus walked on this planet for 30-plus years. He has a date of birth and a date of death. He was fully human, while at the same time being fully God. But, unlike Buddha and Muhammad and the founders of the world's other religions, Jesus also has a date of resurrection. Jesus came back to life, and we celebrate it every Easter.
• Buddha and Muhammad were mere men, and they died. Jesus is the Son of God, and He still lives.
• Build your hope on the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing. Believe God’s Truth and see.

What’s so different about Jesus? Many people don’t deny that Jesus is an important religious teacher, but how is He any different from other great religious leaders in history?

• Jesus is unique in that He rose from the dead never to die again.
• His teachings and miracles demonstrate that He was more than just another teacher, prophet, or religious leader.
• There is no reliable historical data that any founders of the world’s major religions ever claimed to be God; but Jesus did.
• His is God!

He's alive. And He is God. That's what's so different about Jesus.

Be in prayer this week as we continue in our case for Jesus with this weeks' look at what makes Jesus so different. 

See you on Thursday! 

In His Love, 

David